While the Oklahoma Sooners are not bowl-eligible at the moment, they only need two more wins with five games remaining on their schedule. With Dillon Gabriel back under center, that is well within the realm of possibility.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has protected the Sooners facing the Wisconsin Badgers in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Not exactly a New Year’s Six bowl, but after how bad things were looking for OU during their three-game losing streak, this is a positive end to the season.
There is but one Big 12 team in Palm’s current New Year’s Six: Oklahoma State is projected to face Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Alabama missing the playoff is the most intriguing part of this. Tennessee and Georgia are in the College Football Playoff, but not Alabama.
The Bulldogs and Volunteers are the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds, while Ohio State and Clemson are the No. 2 and No. 3.
USC is projected to make the Rose Bowl to face Michigan, who was also notably absent from the playoff in this projection. Meanwhile, Oregon is projected to face Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl. Despite USC’s loss and the way Oregon has played since their loss to Georgia that the Trojans will win the Pac-12.
Should Georgia finish as the No. 1 team in the country, they essentially have a home game at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. If the No. 4 team does indeed end up being Tennessee, that’s a tough matchup after, presumably, losing to the Bulldogs in the regular season.
The SEC champion is a huge unknown at this point. Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia could all win the conference. Although they did lose to LSU, Ole Miss could still run the table and win the SEC West. That’s four teams who could turn this projection on its head.
Another wildcard here is TCU. The Horned Frogs are still undefeated. They don’t have an easy path over the next several weeks, but they could get into the playoff with one loss and a Big 12 Championship. Palm currently has them in the Alamo Bowl.
While the Sooners aren’t going to a big bowl game this year, it will be entertaining to watch how this playoff race unfolds with so many unknowns at the top. This is the most parity college football has had in a while.
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